


Can I Buy You A Sandwich?

by StrawberryLix



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: 3racha is a thing, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, M/M, Pining, Slow Burn, Swearing, bc they're teenage boys, edited the rating to 'T' bc of the swearing, hinted background relationships/crushes, jisung is a fool in love, other additional tags to be added as the story proceeds
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2019-09-02 06:14:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 19,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16781263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrawberryLix/pseuds/StrawberryLix
Summary: Jisung has an overwhelmingly huge and embarrassing crush on the new transfer student from Australia, Lee Felix. And he's completely happy with just watching from afar, because why would the already popular, freckled boy initiate any kind of contact to Jisung, a simple and average guy?Just funny (and also ironic) how fate has something completely different planned for him.





	1. In which Chan's got a Surprise

**Author's Note:**

> this is the first time i'm actually starting a multi-chaptered work as i'm pretty bad at keeping updates regular. anyway, i hope this can catch the interest of some of you, whatever this is going to be.  
> most of the time i don't even know what i'm doing anyway.  
> enjoy

How did he end up like this?

Jisung yet again caught himself staring at the freckled boy from his seat, while the lesson seemed to move on in the background, away from all of Jisung's attention.  
But could anyone really blame him? We were talking about Lee Felix here, the new student from Australia who had joined Jisung's class about a month ago and had the cutest smile by far from every smile Jisung had ever seen before.

It was only natural to be distracted.  
Or was it?

Annoyed, Jisung averted his gaze and fumbled with one of his pencils to distract himself from the new student. It also made him miss even more of the math lesson, but he didn't care about math anyway in that moment. Or ever actually.

He scribbled down a few circles and lines into his notebook before his gaze went up again to look at Felix who was paying close attention to the lesson but seemed to be a bit distraught with trying to comprehend what the teacher was explaining on the blackboard. His eyebrows wrinkled cutely, his lips fell into a cute little pout... And wow, could he stop using the word 'cute' to describe everything Felix was doing?

Jisung sighed internally at this, wondering when it came to the point that he couldn't even focus in class anymore because Felix just kept popping up in his head.  
The two of them didn't even talk that much to each other, other than the polite little chit-chat between classmates or questions about some school work.

One time Felix had asked him if he could borrow his Korean homework which Jisung hadn't even done himself, so he had spent the next two lessons skipping class to write an analysis of a book in a stall of the boys' bathroom on the first floor just to hand it to Felix later on for him to copy at home.

It might had been a foolish thing to do so, but the glowing smile Felix had given him afterwards had been totally worth it.

As Jisung recalled that memory again, a dumb smile plastered itself on his face and man, if he hadn't been whipped back then already, he definitely was now.

Lost in thought, it took Jisung a second to realize that Felix was staring at him too now, obviously having noticed Jisung's piercing gaze towards him. He mustered up a friendly smile and Jisung turned his head away in panic. 

*God damn it, shit.* 

Felix totally thought he was weird now, Jisung was sure of it. Who wouldn't be weirded out if they had been noticing someone staring at them for minutes?

They weren't even friends yet and Jisung had already fucked up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey, I'm back!” Jisung called out into the studio, closing the door behind him. 

He threw his backpack into a corner without damaging any of the music equipment and had a look around. No one was here yet.  
He wasn't surprised about Changbin, since his university lessons didn't always lign up with Jisung's high school timetable, but Chan basically lived in this studio. But right now even his laptop was shut off completely and not even on standby.

Jisung took a seat in the big swivel chair and opened up the laptop. Chan's laptop wasn't password protected, since he trusted Jisung and Changbin enough to not mess around with his song samples that much. 

Jisung originally came here to discuss his new brainstormed lyrics with the others, but since he didn't have anything to do right now, he might as well check up on what Chan was up to right now.

He opened up the newest audio file that Chan had saved under 'i can't think of a title at 3am' and plugged in his earphones. A heavy bass line filled Jisung's ears soon after, and he was immediately into it. Even though Chan apparently had worked on this song very late at night, the transitions were all clean and well produced. Jisung felt excitement coming up just thinking about writing lyrics for this song in the near future when Chan decided he was satisfied enough with the result.

In the middle of the first hook the audio file abruptly ended and the monitor displayed the main file options again. It seemed like Chan hadn't gotten that far with the song yet.  
The keyhole on the entrance door rumbled and Jisung pulled out his earphones.

“Ah, you're already here,” Changbin remarked as he, too, stepped into the wide room and put down his backpack into the same corner as Jisung had done. He had a look around. “Where's Chan?”

“Don't know. He wasn't here when I arrived and even his laptop was shut down.”

Changbin had a closer look on the laptop screen.

“You think it's okay for you to be nosing around in Chan's stuff again? I know he trusts us, but what if one day you stumble over something he doesn't want us to see?” He remarked.

“Chill, I was just checking out Chan's newest project, it's really good so far. That's all I did for now.”

Changbin took a seat in the chair close to Jisung with his own laptop that he brought with him. “Why are you even here yet? It's not like you could help us out with producing anyway.”

“Um, rude,” Jisung gasped out dramatically. “It seems like my lyricism can't be appreciated in this house.”

Changbin ignored him while setting up his laptop and starting the music program. He grabbed a pair of headphones close by.

“Hold on, I actually wanted to share some of the lyrics I wrote recently. I want to get some feedback, I think they're good enough to be used for a new song,” Jisung piped up, already on his way to scramble an old notebook out of his bag. Changbin seemed to be interested again as he grabbed the notebook and scanned over the lines Jisung had written. He went over them more thoroughly a second time, now seemingly more invested into reading them. After a while, he looked up at Jisung again.

“These are actually really good.”

“Of course they are!” Jisung exclaimed slightly offended and snatched the notebook away again.

Changbin shook his head. “No, I mean, really. I like them a lot. I didn't know you could write stuff like that.”

“I'm trying to not take that as an insult,” Jisung answered as he put the notebook away and took a seat next to Changbin again.

He watched him work on a new composition for a while. Whenever Changbin started working on music, he became absorbed into it and forgot everything and everyone around him, even Jisung who was sitting close to him, observing his every movement. For Changbin, it was only him and the song.  
Jisung liked watching him and Chan work. He not only learned more about composing and producing, but he also just enjoyed seeing the different ideas of his fellow crew members being explored until they turned into the final product. It helped him to understand the song even more and therefore to write even better fitting lyrics for it.

The lock on the door made a crackling noise again and ah, that must be Chan.

“Hey guys, I'm sorry I'm late for our meet-up, but I brought a guest with me,” Chan said and shuffled into the room. Jisung turned around at the announcement and even Changbin put down his headphones to be greeted by a beaming Chan and a familiar looking mop of dark brown hair that was swept to the side. Faint freckles were visible on the cheeks of the boy and Jisung recognized the unmistakable bright smile before his heart tumbled down into his stomach.

“Guys, this is Felix. He's my old friend from Australia and just recently transferred here, and he was interested in our music so I brought him along.”

Changbin muttered a casual 'hey' before he went back to his song and Jisung said nothing. He realized he must have looked stupid to just sit there with his mouth slightly open, so he stood up quickly and greeted them properly. Then again, he probably already hadn't left the best impression on Felix before, so was there really anything he could screw up anymore?

“Hey, we're in the same class, aren't we?” Felix noticed while eyeing Jisung and he seemed to think for a bit. “Uh... Jisung, right? Han Jisung?”

“Uh-... yeah,” Jisung stuttered out.

“You two know each other already? That's fantastic!” Chan said happily and shortly after guided Felix to a place where he could sit while the others continued working on their recent project together.  
Jisung sat down to brainstorm some new lyrics for the song they were currently working on, and Chan did the same. But he couldn't help but feel curious brown eyes burning into his back and he couldn't think of a single sentence to write down. His head was empty while his heart felt like it could burst any second.  
Their meet-up had only started, but Jisung already was a mess.

How did he end up in this situation?


	2. In which Changbin maybe finds out a bit too much

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, Jisung was just imagining things for now. The rising temperatures must have gotten to his head or something because there was just no way that _Lee Felix_ , the guy he hadn't even talked to properly since the day he'd joined his class, would actually _ask_ Jisung to hang out with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's a rather short update, but hey, at least it's something

In his bed, Jisung rolled around under the sheets and couldn't find any rest. Today had definitely been nerve-wrecking and having Felix watch him composing a song and later on even recording some bits of it was just too much to handle for one simple high school boy.

Already being on friendly terms with Chan was one thing, but Felix seemed to be absolutely smitten by Changbin's rap when they recorded, and even kept talking to him afterwards and sticking by his side.  
Jisung knew how incredible Changbin's raps were, but at the same time the sight of Felix basically worshiping his rap skills irritated Jisung.

*Isn't my rap cool too?* He thought, sulking into his pillow. He thought he had improved so much over the years from when he started on his own in middle school but now he questioned everything.  
Was he still not good enough? Or was he just not good enough to be noticed by Felix?

He firmly shook his head after that. Who even cared about what Felix thought? Definitely not Jisung. He knew he was good. There was always some room to improve even more, but he was good.  
So why did it frustrate him that much?

*Ugh, pull yourself together. You're being unreasonable.*

He decided to just throw these thoughts away for now and to try to fall asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Jisung's backpack weighed heavy on his shoulders as he made his way down the school hallway while unpacking a sandwich he had just bought in the cafeteria.

“Hey Jisung! Wait!” 

What?

Jisung turned around and there was Felix, trying to catch up with him in the hallway.  
Again:  
What?

What was going on? Felix had never approached him like that before.

“Uh, hey,” Felix said, smiling brightly. “I didn't know you and Channie knew each other? Or like, even performed together in the same rap group.”

“Uhm, yeah. We know each other,” Jisung didn't know what else to say. This was suspicious and he didn't trust it one bit.

“I just really wanted to say that I thought your rap was really cool yesterday. I didn't know you could rap.”

Oh.  
That took a different turn than expected. Jisung's hand went to the back of his neck and he scratched some of his hair in the process.

“Well yeah, I practice sometimes.”  
Damn, Jisung. Who thought you'd need to practice to rap?  
He internally cursed himself for having the same way with words right now as a literal five year-old trying to explain his newest drawing to his parents.

Felix chuckled. “Yeah, I guess you do.”  
He tucked a strand of hair that had fallen into his eyes back and continued.  
“Since you're so close with Channie I actually wondered how we didn't get into contact sooner. Would you like to hang out sometime?”

Jisung nearly choked on his sandwich. He managed to avoid embarrassing himself though and only let out a little cough.

“Ah yeah sure, why not?”

The jarring sound of the school bell rang through the hallway and Felix already got going again, having his back pack casually slung over one shoulder. He turned around.

“Cool. Let's say on Saturday at about 1pm at the park close to the big shopping center?”

Jisung just nodded slightly taken aback before Felix vanished around the corner, just like many other students, making their way to their next class.  
His heartbeat kept pulsing through his ears and Jisung stood there in the middle of the slowly emptying hallway until no other student was in sight anymore. Only then he snapped out of his state of blankness.

Had Felix just asked him out for some kind of date?  
No no, not a date. But hanging out? Together? Just the two of them?  
Unreal. No way that just happened.

Yeah, Jisung was just imagining things for now. The rising temperatures must have gotten to his head or something because there was just no way that _Lee Felix_ , the guy he hadn't even talked to properly since the day he'd joined his class, would actually _ask_ Jisung to hang out with him.

Or did this conversation actually happen and Jisung wasn't just still asleep in his bed and dreaming about what he'd love to happen?

He pinched his arm. Nope, definitely awake.

Fuck.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday approached way faster than Jisung thought it would and he found himself being restless on Friday evening while sitting in the studio again.  
Chan was busy practicing some vocals he planned to include into their new track in the little separate practice room, and Changbin had put his lyrics notebook away for a while to get a break and was currently playing some game on his phone.

“You've been sitting there for nearly two hours now and there are maybe like two sentences on your sheet,” Changbin said, not even looking up from his phone.

“I'm thinking, okay?” Jisung snapped back.

“You can think all you want but without getting a break your head won't produce anything more productive than what's already on your sheet.”

Jisung sighed and put his pen down.

“Don't worry about it, on some days the words just won't flow. It doesn't matter how much you keep thinking about it, you won't really get anything done. It happens to all of us,” Changbin said, visibly making somewhat of an attempt to cheer Jisung up. He put his phone down.  
“Or is anything up?”

Jisung seemed conflicted for a bit and unconsciously bit his nails.  
He decided to just tell the truth.

“You know, I got this date tomorrow-,” Changbin whistled audibly and Jisung corrected himself, “-not quite a date! It's just a simple hangout, really. But I can't help but be nervous about it,” He confessed.

“Nervous? Why would you be nervous about it? Is it with someone you like?” Changbin asked.

“I guess so,” Jisung admitted, having switched biting his nails for fumbling with the rim of his shirt now. Changbin smirked.

“Well, who's the lucky person?”

“It's Felix.”

Changbin seemed surprised at that. “Felix? That kid from Australia that was here a few days ago?”  
Jisung nodded.

“Seriously? You've fallen for that guy that fast? It's been like, what, four days?”

“No, he's been in my class at school for about a month now and I already started liking him a while ago.”

Jisung felt himself cringing at actually voicing the thoughts he'd been having for the past weeks now, and he felt weird for sharing them with someone else, especially with Changbin who usually wasn't involved with any romance-stuff. But maybe that was exactly the reason why it felt easier for Jisung to tell him out of all people. Even if he knew, Changbin wouldn't just go out and shout the news into the world. He was too reserved for that and didn't see any personal gain in it. It was most likely that Changbin wouldn't even care about it and Jisung could just move on without ever regretting what he had said.

Changbin just hummed in understanding.

“So that's how it is.”

He kept quiet then and just looked at Jisung and Jisung figured that maybe it hadn't been the best idea to tell Changbin after all.  
Then he just started grinning again before he went back to his game.

Great, Jisung's bad feeling about this only worsened, and since he couldn't take it back anymore, he contemplated whether it was better to walk out of the studio and never come back again or to just take the next flight to Malaysia, where he had spent most of his childhood anyway and could just go back to to start a new life.

“It's going to be okay. Just enjoy yourself tomorrow and have a great time, I'm sure things will work out,” Changbin suddenly said, eyes fixated on his game while tapping some buttons to make his character jump over obstacles.

Jisung would lie if he said that this didn't at least soothe his nerves a little bit, but it still left him feeling uneasy. That was probably only natural, though.

It seemed that he could trust Changbin with this for now.  
Hopefully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for anyone interested in more yelling about skz (and some other fandoms too), find me on my tumblr @dudeflovski


	3. In which there are way too many gummy bears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wait what? No, no, no. This was their date, wasn't it? Well, it wasn't really a date but-  
> -but... why was there someone else now, too? This was supposed to be only Felix and him! Having a picnic in the park, watching birds, all romantic or something like that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oof new update. maybe i'll manage to get a chapter out every week? but no promises on that.
> 
> anyway school is kicking my ass and jisung is relatable so have a chapter of him gay panicking through his first date.

Jisung made sure to check his clothes as he leaned against a tree in Seoul's Yongsan park.  
Okay, his shirt was clean, the pants fit all right, everything was okay. He had checked his appearance multiple times at home before leaving the house to completely make sure that he didn't accidentally put on one of his chocolate stained shirts that he had forgotten to throw into the laundry basket.

He pulled a tiny mirror out of his pocket to check if his hair still looked good under his baseball cap, which he wore today because the black roots started showing again under his orange-yellowish hair. He had to re-dye it soon.

Luckily, his hair was still in place despite the slightly windy walk to the park but Jisung swept his hair a bit more to the side to make sure it really stayed in place properly.

After checking everything, he put the mirror back into his pocket and noticed Felix approaching in the distance.  
Had Felix seen him with the mirror? Hopefully not.

“Hey, I'm sorry I'm a bit late. Did you wait long?” Felix greeted him. He was dressed in a loose plaid shirt and a pair of jeans accompanied by casual white sneakers, and Jisung was glad he didn't over-dress himself too much for Felix since the latter one clearly saw this as a casual hangout.

“No, I just arrived a few minutes ago,” Jisung assured him and shook his head.

The two of them started taking a walk through the park, without a clear destination.

“How long have you known Channie now?” Felix suddenly asked.  
Jisung thought for a bit.

“Hm... We met like two years ago, I think? It was my freshman year in high school and I had just gotten back from Malaysia where I've spent my middle school years. Back then, Changbin still went to our school too and one day I heard him practice a few verses in the music room while hovering over a notebook with a pen in his hand and continuously crossing things out or adding new details, and I asked him what he was doing. Soon enough I found out that he and Chan were a rapper duo producing their own songs and since I had found an interest in rapping myself in middle school and had already practiced a lot, I asked him if I could join. Changbin seemed unconvinced but still agreed to take me to some kind of 'auditioning' I would say, which basically just consisted of him and Chan listening to me rap some verses, before they accepted me into the group. Since then we've been working as a crew of three under the name 3racha. We haven't really had any official gigs yet but we have a YouTube channel, so we sometimes upload our stuff there,” Jisung explained.

“Oh yeah, your channel. I've been following it for a while. I really like you guys' music!” Felix said, smiling at Jisung. He felt butterflies whirling in his stomach.

“Thanks. And what about you? Chan said something about you knowing each other from Australia?”

Felix laughed shyly and unconsciously raised a hand in front of his mouth to muffle his laughter a bit.

“Ah, yes. I mean, you know already that Channie originally grew up in Australia, right? We're actually both from Sydney and our parents are good friends, so we basically grew up together, I guess? We spent lots of time together when we were younger, until one day he announced that he was going to move to Korea to go to a high school here and later on purcue a music career.”

*Pursue,* Jisung corrected him in his head, knowing that Felix sometimes made minor mistakes while speaking Korean.

“Honestly speaking, I was really sad about that but I also knew how much it meant to him,” Felix continued. “Back then I thought that I wanted to follow him, but I couldn't speak one bit of Korean, while Channie grew up with it. So I started studying it and convinced my parents to let me transfer to Seoul as soon as possible. I'm lucky my grandparents live here because otherwise my parents wouldn't have let me go. So right now I'm staying at my grandparents' place but Channie planned to make me move in with him at least until I start university, to not burden my grandparents so much. Actually, I've only been calling him Channie since I arrived here in Korea, for convenience. I usually called him by his birth name, Christopher, or for short, Chris. Sometimes it still slips out of my mouth when I talk to him and then he laughs.” Felix chuckled at that thought.

Jisung hummed in understanding and nodded. He didn't know Felix and Chan were so close to each other. Close was an understatement, they really were childhood friends, nearly something like family for each other. It really seemed like such a coincidence that Jisung got to know both of them separately.

Felix and him continued their walk and enjoyed the beautiful surroundings of the park. Jisung wasn't really sure what they were doing right now, but he valued their silence and the fact that they were just enjoying each other's company. He didn't know when they got so comfortable around each other and Jisung nearly forgot that he was supposed to be nervous around Felix.  
Changbin seemed to be right about not thinking too much and just taking things as they came and Jisung was thankful.

“By the way, have you eaten dinner yet?” Felix suddenly asked.

Jisung remembered having carelessly stuffed his mouth with some grapes before he went outside to not be late for their meet-up, so he shook his head.

“No, not really.”

“Me neither. How about we get a little something from the mall nearby and then go back here, sit in the grass and eat? The weather is nice today,” Felix suggested and Jisung agreed.

They settled for an ordinary convenience store close to the mall to get some sandwiches and drinks.  
While roaming through the aisles, Jisung grabbed a bunch of chicken sandwiches before realizing that he and Felix got separated.

He found Felix in the aisle for drinks, eyeing different cans.

“Coke or Pepsi?” He asked, having trouble deciding.

Jisung shrugged. “I don't really care, to be honest. Just take whatever.”

“Coke it is, then,” Felix decided happily, taking some cans out of the shelf. “We got everything?”

“Yup. If you don't mind chicken sandwiches,” Jisung said, presenting the sandwiches to Felix.

“They're fine,” Felix reassured, turning around and accidentally bumping into a small boy who just had entered the aisle. The boy dropped the packages of gummy bears he had been holding and they scattered across the floor.

“Oh my god, I'm so sorry,” Felix said, bending down and helping the flustered boy to pick up the packages again before he stopped in his motion.

“Wait, Jeongin?”

The smaller boy looked up in surprise before his face lightened up, too.

“Oh, Felix. I didn't recognize you in this hurry. Hey!” He got up from the floor and smiled brightly, revealing a set of braces.

Who was that Jeongin guy? Jisung didn't know him.

“Jisung, this is Jeongin. We're in the same piano lessons. He's a junior at our school,” Felix introduced him and Jeongin waved at him shyly.  
Jisung didn't know what was more surprising: the fact that Felix managed to make friends sooner than Jisung had ever managed to, or the fact that Felix apparently could play the piano, because the latter one definitely made Jisung feel something.  
He mentally noted down to watch Felix play the piano one day, if he ever got the chance to.

Jisung greeted Jeongin casually.

“What have you been up to?” Felix asked Jeongin.

“I'm supposed to head over to my aunt's place in a few hours but before that I wanted to make some use of my time and get some... good stuff.”

Jeongin looked down at the dozen of gummy bear packages in his hands that would surely give anyone a diabetic coma if consumed all at once, and the grin Jeongin had on his face indicated that it was probably the best to not leave him unsupervised with all these packages. Jisung briefly wondered if he should worry about that kid but decided he didn't know him enough for that.

“Hey, if you don't have anything to do for now, why don't you join us? We're heading to the park to have a picnic,” Felix suddenly suggested and Jisung's eyes widened.

Wait what? No, no, no. This was their date, wasn't it? Well, it wasn't really a date but-  
-but... why was there someone else now, too? This was supposed to be only Felix and him! Having a picnic in the park, watching birds, all romantic or something like that.

“What about it Jisung?” Felix asked him all smiley.

“Yeah, sure.”

Oh god damn it.  
“That's a good idea, actually,” Jeongin pointed out. “I could spare some time for that.”

They all paid for their snacks individually before heading to the park again together and settling down in the soft grass close to a small lake. They all sat together in some kind of triangle shape, so they could easily talk to each other while munching on their sandwiches. Jeongin shared some of his gummy bears with them too, and sneaked a bite of Felix's sandwich every now and then, which only made Felix giggle and point out Jeongin's cuteness when the younger one accidentally got some dressing on the corners of his mouth.

Jisung sat there nibbling at the edges of his sandwich, trying not to sulk over Felix directing all his attention to Jeongin who really was too cute for Jisung's liking.  
He tried to comfort himself by thinking about how much attention he already had gotten from Felix today, which was more than in the entire past month they'd been in the same class.

Jeongin turned out to be quite nice to hang out with though, as the younger offered some witty jokes and interesting stories of his life at home with four siblings and his parents. The boy seemed to be quite shy when Jisung had met him, but the more time they spent together, the more openly Jeongin talked about things and his body language became more relaxed.

Jisung told some stories about his work with 3racha and Felix and Jeongin both laughed when Jisung mentioned the time when he had accidentally locked Changbin into the storage cabin until Chan found him hammering on the door two hours later when he came back to check their equipment one last time for the day. Changbin hadn't talked to Jisung for three days after that.

“You're in a rap crew?” Jeongin gaped in astonishment. “That's so cool! Can I hear some of your tracks sometime?”

“You actually can, they're on our YouTube channel,” Jisung mentioned and Jeongin noted the name down into his phone quickly.

After a while, Jeongin said his goodbyes to them as he had to leave for his aunt. He left one of his gummy bear packages with Jisung and Felix, and took the rest with him, trying to fit all of them into his small backpack to not get scolded by his aunt for an excessive hoarding of candy. After he got everything stored, he trudged away.

Jisung was left there sitting with Felix, who just finished up the remnants of his sandwich before he crumpled the paper together and put it aside. Jisung didn't quite know what to say so he just sat there staring at the lake, observing one of the few fountains and how the masses of water poured down from them.

“It's getting late, isn't it?” Felix said, looking into the distance and sipping on a can of coke.

Jisung checked his watch. It was around 6pm now, one hour after Jeongin had left.

“Should we head home?” Jisung asked carefully, and Felix thought about it for a bit before he nodded.

“Yeah, I still gotta study for a test next week and I haven't done anything yet. Let's go.”

Felix downed the rest of his can before collecting the leftover pieces of foil and paper from the sandwiches and putting them all in the trash can nearby. Jisung took the half empty gummy bear package with him for their way back and he and Felix shared the rest of the package until they arrived at the subway station.

“All right, I gotta take train 2 now,” Felix said.  
“Train 4 for me,” Jisung noted while checking the schedule.

They stood there in silence for a bit before Felix took out his phone and handed it to Jisung.  
Jisung dumbly stared at it before Felix nudged him with it.

“We should share phone numbers.”

Jisung gaped at him before he took the phone hesitantly. He felt his cheeks burn up while he typed in his number and saved it under 'Han Jisung' before giving the phone back to Felix. After he realized that Felix kept on staring at him expectantly, he scrambled out his own phone too and passed it over to Felix. After typing in his number, Felix gave the phone back to Jisung. 

“Train 2, headed towards Yangcheon-gu, is departing soon. All passengers are advised to board the train now. Train 2, headed towards Yangcheon-gu. All passengers-”

“Oh, gotta go now,” Felix noticed. He waved at Jisung. “See you on Monday!”  
Then he vanished into the subway together with many other people before the doors closed. Jisung watched the train depart slowly while simultaneously feeling like passing out right then and there, his mind not being able to form any kind of coherent thought, and soon his own subway arrived at the station. 

He took a seat in the surprisingly not crowded subway and observed the doors closing, and the station slowly being left behind.

Jisung noticed that his phone was still clutched tightly in his hands and he unlocked it to make sure that he really just had obtained the phone number of his crush.  
The display showed an eleven digit number saved under the name 'Lee Felix'. After his name, Felix had put a little star emoticon. 

Just in that moment, Jisung's phone buzzed and a message popped up.

 _ **Lee Felix★:**_ Today was really fun! (o^^o)♪

Jisung couldn't stop a stupid grin from spreading over his face yet again, feeling butterflies whirling through his stomach, while his fingers moved to type out a reply.

 _ **Han Jisung:**_ Yeah, it was ^^

He felt warm inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for anyone interested in more yelling about skz (and some other fandoms too), find me on my tumblr @dudeflovski


	4. In which things turn out quite unexpected (but when are they ever expected?)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What was there to do on a normal Sunday evening when there was school the next day? He felt like going out for a bit with some friends and maybe hang out at the arcades or some café or something, as long as it wasn't home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a new chapter on time? wow i'm surprised at myself for managing this.  
> anyway, as always, enjoy

If Felix had planned to study for any upcoming tests, then it seemed like he didn't get much of it done. Meanwhile Jisung had given up on studying long ago anyway.

It was a Sunday afternoon and he lay on his bed in his most comfortable sweatpants while clutching his phone and enthusiastically typing out a message to Felix on it. 

_**Han Jisung**_ : not much, i'm just chilling at home

It only took a few seconds for a reply.

 _ **Lee Felix★**_ : haha, me too. channie was here earlier to talk to my grandparents. i'm going to move in with him next weekend probably. i already started packing up some stuff

 _ **Han Jisung**_ : must be cool to live with a friend without any parents

 _ **Lee Felix★**_ : i guess so. well, we used to sleep over at each other's places a lot, but this is going to be a completely new experience. i look forward to it

 _ **Han Jisung**_ : does that mean you'll stop by the studio more often?

This time it took longer for Felix to reply to him, so Jisung wondered whether he just was busy or he had said something wrong.

 _ **Lee Felix★**_ : if you want me to?

Oh shit. 

_**Han Jisung**_ : i mean sure, why not. you're a nice company to have in the studio

Smooth. Really smooth, Jisung.  
He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling while trying to calm himself. He felt like he was pushing everything a bit too fast, worried that he'd scare off Felix one day but the other boy seemed to take most things as a simple friendly gesture and Jisung wondered how far he could go until Felix would feel weird about it.

 _ **Lee Felix★**_ : well i guess i have to stop by more often then. i can't miss out on your cool rapping of course

Breathe. This meant nothing. Absolutely nothing. But did everyone who was friends with Felix have to suffer through this, or was it just Jisung who felt like the freckled boy was attacking his heart with every sentence he spoke (or wrote)?

They'd been texting like this for a week now and at school they even sat together at lunch, sometimes with the company of Jeongin, when the junior felt like joining them.  
Jisung wondered if Felix didn't have any other friends or if he just decided to spend his break with Jisung everyday, but it felt unreal. Felix seemed to be quite popular with everyone and the fact that he would stick so much to Jisung was inexplicable to him.

God bless Chan for having brought Felix to the studio that one day. Jisung reminded himself to buy him his favorite food the next time they went out to eat again, as a secret thank you.

Maybe one day Changbin would let him breathe again too, since he basically teased him with Felix every single time he was at the studio.  
Jisung had had no idea that Changbin could get so worked up about this. Sometimes he would even message Jisung, asking how things with Felix went. That was even more surprising, since he usually only texted him when there were changes in the schedule and he either couldn't make it or he notified Jisung that the studio wasn't available for the day. So only formal stuff, but never really any personal matters.

Texting Changbin occasionally like that was still weird, and it was even weirder now since Changbin also got along really well with Felix. Jisung worried that one day Changbin might accidentally spill something about Jisung's feelings to him.  
He also wondered if Changbin and Felix met up after school, too. Or was that just a thing reserved for Jisung only? Of course not. He needed to stop thinking too much about these things before his head started hurting from it. It didn't have any use to rack his brains over something as trivial as that and Jisung knew it. 

_**Han Jisung**_ : haha yeah, just come by anytime you like. there's usually always someone at the studio

 _ **Lee Felix★**_ : alrighty~

Jisung put his phone aside. He rolled around on the bed sheets a few times before he got up and decided to do something actually useful for the little bit he had left of his weekend.  
Even his mother seemed surprised when he offered to vacuum and dust off the living room, something he didn't ever imagine offering voluntarily, and yet here he was.  
But even after finishing that, he realized there was still way too much time left of the day for his liking, it was only close to 7pm, and Jisung didn't feel like continuing to rot away at home.

What was there to do on a normal Sunday evening when there was school the next day? He felt like going out for a bit with some friends and maybe hang out at the arcades or some café or something, as long as it wasn't home.

He couldn't ask Hyunjin, he knew the boy wasn't allowed to be out late when there was school the next day. Seungmin? No way, the guy was probably studying like the model student he was, holding the spot of the valedictorian for months now and not planning on giving it up. Jisung couldn't imagine what he would've done with Seungmin anyway; when hanging out it was never just the two of them, Hyunjin usually always initiated a hangout and Seungmin tagged along.  
He couldn't ask Felix either, that was quite an obvious case.

Who else? Chan? That would work out. Jisung immediately sent him a message to meet up in front of the arcade center and already slipped into his sneakers before his phone buzzed with a reply from Chan.

 _ **Bang Chan**_ : sry not availa ble for 2nite. workign

Judging by the typo and the messy way of texting, Chan probably hadn't gotten any sleep in the past 26 hours and was now running off of sheer will power, dedication and maybe a little sip of coffee to finish whatever song he was currently working on.  
Jisung knew this lifestyle wasn't healthy, and he and Changbin had told him many times already, but in the end all of it had no use, as Chan was too much of a perfectionist and workaholic to actually think about his well-being. Jisung sighed. He mentally noted to make sure to bring over some food to the studio later on so Chan at least wouldn't neglect that part of his health.

He sunk back down onto the stairs and thought for a bit. Who else was there to ask? Suddenly Jisung's list of friends seemed so short to him and he wondered if it had always been that way or if it just seemed like it to him now because all of his friends were actually busy.  
Was there really no one else he could ask?

Maybe... just maybe.... No, Jisung visibly shook his head at that. He couldn't ask _Changbin_ , could he? That didn't sit well with him for some reason. It wasn't like they weren't close... but they had never hung out together _casually_. It was either only at the studio or eating out with Chan to celebrate a finished song. 

He couldn't remember having ever texted Changbin to meet up with him, and it was also the other way around. But his boredom was killing Jisung, and he figured that maybe, just _maybe_ , it was worth a try.

 _ **Han Jisung**_ : wanna hang out?

To Jisung's surprise it only took Changbin a few minutes to reply to him.

 _ **Seo Changbin**_ : right now? what do you have in mind?

 _ **Han Jisung**_ : idk, the arcade center? or maybe smth to drink or eat?

Contrary to any of Jisung's speculations about Changbin's typical hangout places, the university freshman suggested a coffee shop to meet up in.  
...And a pretty cute one at that.  
Jisung eyed the pretty wooden board in front of the coffee shop on which the names of some limited beverages with their prices were written on in cursive with chalk. The inside of the coffee shop exuded a warm light through the glass windows which reached from the ceiling to the floor, making it possible to see everything that was going on in the rather small but invitingly decorated interior.

Jisung just stood there for a while, letting the lights of the street lamps shine down on him and make his already striking orange hair stand out even more, until he saw Changbin waving at him from inside the coffee shop. He had already occupied a table at the back, and Jisung ordered a latte at the counter before he joined him. Changbin was already sipping on what looked like a cup of hot chocolate with cream.

They greeted each other and Jisung took a seat opposite Changbin, watching as the older boy continued to sip on his beverage while lazily scrolling through his phone. For some reason Jisung felt awkward for the fact that they were not sitting in the studio together but instead just in a nicely decorated coffee shop on a regular Sunday evening. It nearly felt like a date and it made Jisung shudder at the thought.

“So?”

Jisung looked up from inspecting his creamy and foamy latte and met Changbin's expecting gaze directed towards him.

“What did you want to talk about?” he asked, after Jisung hadn't reacted to his first question.

“Oh, nothing” Jisung just replied, taking a first sip of his coffee, impressed by the mild and flavorful taste.

“Then what is this?” Changbin pointed towards himself, then to his seat.

“What do you mean?”

“Why am I here?”

“Because you walked here, ordered a cup and then sat down on that chair.”

Changbin sighed and brought his hand up to his forehead while his thumb pressed into his temple. “Jisung, what's up?”

Jisung put his cup down and looked at Changbin. The older boy stared at him questioningly, maybe with a slight hint of annoyance behind it, Jisung couldn't quite tell, but it was just as he had expected it to go. Despite the decoration of the coffee shop, he didn't feel comfortable at all. Suddenly Jisung felt stupid for having called Changbin here.

“Oh, I don't know, maybe I just wanted to spend some time with you. You know, like the friends we are supposed to be.” He didn't mean it to come out as harsh as it did.

Changbin's eyes widened. Was it surprise? Shock? Was it disgust? Jisung couldn't tell yet again, but it didn't really matter, as he didn't want to take back what he had said. It had always bothered him that, despite knowing each other for so long, Changbin and him had never really had that kind of connection he wanted them to have. They were so close in age, way closer than Jisung was with Chan, and yet Jisung felt like they were miles apart. And it just didn't make sense, because there wasn't anything that should've created this situation. There hadn't been anything that should've made them keep a professional 'work-only' distance towards each other, but here it was anyway, and there was just absolutely no reason for that.

“I don't know, is it so weird that I want to spend time with you?” Jisung added, after he felt like he wasn't quite done yet, sounding a bit more strained than before. He didn't know what was up with him so suddenly, but it just all came out at once now, probably not at the best time and definitely not at the best place. It was so random and irrelevant actually, that Changbin probably thought he was overreacting over such a simple question. And maybe he was.

“No,” Changbin said, still watching Jisung with that changed expression, “it's not weird at all.” There was something like a hint of guilt in his eyes, as if he'd suddenly realized something. “I'm sorry if I've given you that impression.”

They fell into a silence that was even more awkward than the one before. Jesus Christ, this is not what Jisung had wanted at all. Next time he should just keep his mouth shut.

It was Changbin who started to speak again after a while. 

“Hey, you haven't really told me but... is there some kind of progress with Felix?”

Jisung slowly stirred the creamy topping of his coffee with a spoon and kept his gaze locked onto his beverage while propping his chin with his other hand.

“I don't know,” he just said, really having no idea what exactly Felix wanted from him because everything still seemed so rushed and farther than he ever thought he'd get in such a short amount of time, “why do you suddenly care so much? Back then when Chan had that crush on a girl from his classes and brought her over to the studio a few times you didn't give a single shit.”

Changbin cleared his throat as if he felt caught. “I just didn't like her, that was all. But Felix is a pretty cool guy, you know. We've been texting for a while, at the studio he's really interested in the things I do... I dunno, he seems like a good match for you. You're always so bubbly, too.” The embarrassed way Changbin said this made Jisung weirdly blush, too, and he didn't know whether that was because Changbin had kind of indirectly 'complimented' him or had stated that he thought Felix and him would be a good match.

“You think so?” Jisung just asked with a hint of shyness in his voice.

“Yeah.”

They were quiet again and Changbin started to slurp on his hot chocolate now to avoid anyone seeing how embarrassed he was even though Jisung was sure he saw his cheeks redden slightly before they vanished behind the big cup. Jisung decided to try his luck. 

“I didn't know you could be so cute.”

Changbin nearly choked on his hot chocolate in surprise and Jisung grinned at him smugly. “I finally got you with something, huh?”

“Shut up,” Changbin mumbled behind his cup, acting as if he was still drinking his beverage when he was clearly just trying to hide behind it.

Jisung giggled and all awkwardness was forgotten. It was rare to see that side of Changbin but Jisung treasured it whenever he got to see it.

“A-anyway...” Changbin started again, “I'm offering you help.”

“Help? What kind of help?”

Changbin put his cup down and looked at him with a serious expression now. “I'm offering you help with Felix. I'll help you get together with him. Like a wingman or something.”

Jisung wasn't sure if he had heard him correctly. “Excuse me, you're gonna do _what_?” 

“You heard me.”

Jisung just stared at him with big round eyes before he broke into a laughing fit a few seconds after. “I'm sorry but, _what the hell_? You? Changbin please, tell me the last time you actually had a romantic relationship of any kind.”

Changbin looked at him offended. “Hey, I know what I'm doing. You might not know it, but I'm actually really good at things like that, you could need my help!”

“Alright, alright,” Jisung laughed, calming himself down a bit. “I'll see what you got in stock then.” 

He absolutely did not take Changbin seriously at all, but this determined side of the older one usually only surfaced when he was working on his music, and to see that it also occurred in other areas, especially such insignificant ones, made Jisung smile fondly. 

It seemed that now he wasn't alone in this anymore. And maybe along the way, he and Changbin could finally manage to develop the kind of friendship he had always wanted them to have in the first place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for anyone interested in more yelling about skz (and some other fandoms too), find me on my tumblr @dudeflovski


	5. In which Changbin has an idea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So I have the absolute best idea ever” Changbin declared, sounding sure of himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in my defense, i was busy with two secret santa projects and christmas preparations + christmas itself, so i'm surprised i even got this chapter out so quickly. hopefully i'll have more time to write from now on

He hadn't forgotten about Chan. 

That's why (after he parted ways with Changbin) he stopped by a late-night fast food stall to get some fried noodles with chicken breast as takeaway, before he continued to head to the studio. From afar he already saw light emitting from the small window on the 4th floor and he checked his watch. It was close to 11pm already and most of the lights in the other houses of the street had already been switched off. 

Jisung entered the building and already fumbled for his keys while riding up the elevator. In front of their studio door he waited for a little bit and listened. It was quiet inside. He didn't waste another second and unlocked the door, slowly opening it and having a look into the room. 

The lights were brightly lit, probably every single lamp in the studio was switched on as if to force the illusion of daylight into the room. Chan had his back turned towards him, headphones over his ears and clicking away on his laptop while occasionally operating with a synthesizer that was placed next to it. Jisung let the door gently fall shut behind him.

He approached Chan, plopping the bag with takeaway down onto the table. The plastic bag made a scrunching noise at the contact with the wooden piece of furniture. Chan flinched a bit at the sudden gesture, seemingly not having heard Jisung entering the studio before, and put down his headphones while pausing his file.

“Jisung, you startled me” he said, falling into a relieved little laugh after realizing his company.

“You're still working” Jisung commented, eyeing the file on Chan's laptop and realizing it was the one he'd already listened to two weeks ago when he arrived at the studio before everyone else.

Chan sheepishly scratched the back of his head. “Ah yeah, I'm still not really done. I can't decide on this one transition, it keeps irking me no matter what I do.” His eyes fell onto the plastic bag. “What's that?”

“Food,” Jisung said, sitting down on the swivel chair next to Chan, “I bought it for you.”

“You shouldn't have.”

“When was the last time you ate something?”

Chan went silent for a while, thinking about the answer before he hesitantly replied with a “This morning, I think?”. He didn't really sound convinced of his own statement.

“My god” Jisung just said, trying to suppress a sigh. He was worried about the older one, but also knew that trying to guilt-trip his friend would only lead into Chan feeling bad and that was the last thing he needed.

“It's alright” Chan brought out with a little smile on his lips, nearly seeming apologetic. It absolutely wasn't alright and both of them knew that. Yet they also knew that having a little talk about it wouldn't change a thing. Jisung and Changbin had tried that too many times already just to find Chan drowning himself in work the next day again.

Chan had always been scared that he wouldn't manage to achieve his goals and dreams, and to fight that paranoia, he kept on working restlessly, having the mindset that if you just kept on working, you'd be able to go far.

Jisung knew Chan had always wanted to become a professional producer. His uncle ran a successful music equipment company and so Chan always had had access to producing-equipment since he was young; already composing songs since he was in middle school, and constantly improving with every song he finished. Jisung was sure that Chan was already on a professional producer level, but he hadn't been discovered yet; most of his works getting rejected by big labels, and even if they got accepted, it was a one-time deal and he didn't get much out of it.

Of course he blamed it on himself for not working enough. The little money he made by selling some of his own compositions was not enough to pay all of his bills or even his rent to begin with (not to mention his university fees). His parents, and especially his uncle, were supportive of his dreams and helped him financially as much as they could, but that only worsened Chan's guilt and his belief of not working hard enough. Because if he worked hard enough, he should be able to make enough money to live with the bare minimum, right?

“Do you not want to eat something now?” Jisung pushed a bit further. He had noticed Chan's gaze sticking to the deliciously smelling takeaway box.

“Oh, later. I'm dedicated to finish this transition first, it doesn't give me any rest” Chan remarked, turning to his laptop and moving to put his headphones over his ears again.

“Let me see, I'll have a listen and tell you what I think of it” Jisung interrupted and already snatched the laptop away from Chan, together with the headphones. If it meant that he could get Chan to eat the food, he would be as annoying as possible.

Chan was a bit surprised at the sudden action but let Jisung take the laptop from him. “There's a second file right next to it with the other option I've thought about” Chan pointed out before Jisung played the first file. To his satisfaction, Chan actually did grab the takeaway box with the chopsticks now and started eating. Jisung saw how he gradually started to shove the food faster and faster into his mouth, as if he'd suddenly realized that he'd been starving for days.

Jisung didn't know if he just wasn't experienced or trained enough or if Chan had become completely paranoid, because even after listening multiple times to the part that 'bothered' Chan, he couldn't make out any difference. It sounded exactly the same to him in both versions, no matter how often he kept replaying it. He didn't really want to lie to Chan, but seeing the older look at him expectantly with tired eyes, waiting for his opinion, made Jisung feel guilty about not being able to give him a proper feedback. 

“I think version one is better.”

“Really?” Chan looked at him questioningly. “I wasn't really sure about that one. I think the transition on the second one is a bit smoother, you know? The base line just melts better into the chord progression. You know, when the bridge goes into the chorus and the key changes.”

Yeah, Jisung had no idea what he was talking about.

“Well I think the base line in version one melts into the chord progression just fine, if you ask me. Have you maybe thought about that – while it may seem a bit odd to you – there could be people who actually enjoy this version more because it's different from what they're used to?” He nearly felt bad for making up such a bullshit to get Chan to take a rest, but it seemed to be working.

Chan was thinking; a finger on his lip while his eyebrows furrowed. “You know what, this might be it.”  
He snatched the headphones from Jisung and listened to it again before snapping his fingers with an enlightened expression on his face. “This is it!”

Jisung didn't believe this would have worked. 

“Jisung, thank you! This was exactly what I needed. I just had to look at it from a different perspective!” Chan couldn't even hide the excitement in his voice anymore, which was most likely caused by the insane amount of relief he felt for finally finishing a song he'd been working on for weeks.

“Sure you did” Jisung said, holding back an awkward laugh because he still had no idea what he had even done to help Chan, but as long as it worked he wouldn't be the one to complain.

Chan let out a relieved sigh and fell back into his chair. “Oh my god, finally.”

“So you can pack up for today?” Jisung asked casually, trying not to arouse any kind of suspicion. 

“I guess so” Chan muttered, looking pleasantly surprised. “Wait a minute, why are you still here? Don't you have school tomorrow? It's- oh my god, it's nearly midnight. Get home quickly!”

“Only if you leave the studio with me” Jisung proposed sneakily.

Chan sighed for the probably fifth time in Jisung's visit. “Okay fine, I'm going.” And with that, he started packing up his things and shut down his laptop.

Chan lived in the same apartment complex as the studio was located, just one floor below. That was also part of the reason why he was at the studio so often. He only had to walk up a set of stairs. 

On the doorstep he turned around before entering his flat, looking at Jisung who handed him the rest of his fried noodles in the plastic bag. He kept watching him for a while, a look of fondness spread over his face, before he raised his hand and put it on top of Jisung's head to ruffle through his hair affectionately. 

“Thank you.”

Jisung looked at him with a slightly confused expression. “It's just takeaway food, of course I'd bring you something over.”

Chan smiled at him.

“That's not what I meant. Good night, Jisung.”

Then he closed the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“So I have the absolute best idea ever” Changbin declared, sounding sure of himself.

“And what is that going to be?” Jisung asked, tucking his phone between his ear and shoulder to still be able to hear Changbin while preparing a bowl of cereal in the kitchen after having come home from school.  
Jisung heard a loud and startling sound at Changbin's end of the line that nearly made him drop the bottle of milk he was holding. “Dude, what the fuck?”

“Sorry, I dropped something” Changbin just said.

“Something? That sounded like someone threw a brick at your door or something like that.”

“Maybe so” Jisung heard him say on the other end of the line. He decided not to question whatever was going on in Changbin's house. The guy still lived with his parents and his younger brother because it was cheaper than getting his own apartment. Jisung had never met Changbin's brother before, but now he wasn't so sure if he wanted to anymore.

“What the hell is your brother doing?” Jisung asked as he made his way to the couch with his cereal bowl. 

“Nothing I'll be able to prove later on when our parents are back.”

The deafening noise sounded through the phone again; this time possibly even louder than before.

“Shut the fuck up you little gremlin, before I'm coming over and kick your ass!” Changbin yelled, turned away from the speaker.

“I'd like to see you try, grandpa!” a voice replied from farther away, sounding a bit muffled; probably coming from the room next door. Changbin sighed.

“Jesus Christ, dude” Jisung just commented.

“Now that he's turned 13 he thinks he has to be all rebellious and shit,” Changbin explained annoyed, “and he always gets away with it. Mom and Dad still think he's a little angel.”

Another thump.

“I swear to fucking god!” he shouted.

“You ain't got shit on me, sucker!” the voice shouted back, followed by something sounding like breaking glass.

“Shouldn't you like... maybe do something?” Jisung inquired mildly concerned while stuffing his mouth with a spoon of cereal.

“Oh hell no, I'm not getting involved with that. In the end I'll be the one to get into trouble and I'm not having that again. The gremlin could go and try to burn the house down and I'd still sit here and watch the newest episode of Game of Thrones while waiting for the flames to swallow me up.”

“Sounds like... fun” Jisung said sarcastically.

“Oh believe me, it is.”

“So what was that great idea you had?” Jisung changed the topic.

“Ah, right! My fantastic idea,” Changbin said delighted after having been reminded of the reason he'd called Jisung to begin with, “is an arcade date.”

Jisung raised an eyebrow even though Changbin couldn't see him over the phone. “An arcade date? You want to go on an arcade date with me?”

“Not me you idiot, Felix! Ask Felix for a date at the arcades!” Changbin stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Wait, Felix? You want _me_ to ask Felix out?” Jisung said and his voice had suddenly increased in volume as well as in pitch. “Uh-uh, no way, man. He may have asked me out once, but that doesn't mean _I_ can just ask him out! I'd seem desperate or something, I don't know.”

“Well, how did you think this was supposed to go? You talk to Felix every once in a while and suddenly he's gonna fall in love with you? You gotta take the initiative here, man! Up to this point Felix has done the most and he's not even the one who's the fool in love!”

Jisung let out a disapproving huff.

“Well, at least not yet!” Changbin corrected quickly. “Anyway, _do something_. Now's the perfect timing: He's already asked you to meet up literally out of nowhere, he even asked you for your number. You told me that at school he keeps joining you at lunch. He's already interested, so don't be stupid and finally make a move.”

“All of these things happened on a totally platonic basis, Changbin.”

“Bullshit!” Changbin snapped. “That's bullshit, and you know it!”

Why was he so worked up about this?

“And what the fuck am I supposed to do at the arcades then?” Jisung just moved on with a heavy sigh.

“Okay listen, here's the thing. I know the perfect game you two should play together. It's bound to make you get closer, I just know it” Changbin told him excited. “It's called 'Love Shooter'.”

“That sounds like something you shouldn't play with anyone. Ever” Jisung said with disgust in his voice.

“ _Listen_ , you have to trust me here. This is the key” Changbin swore. “This game does things to you.”  
He seemed to be recalling an old memory Jisung definitely didn't want to know about. It was quiet on the other end of the line, to Jisung's surprise there even wasn't any earsplitting noise in the background.

“Okay,” Jisung gave in, “I'm trusting you this one time. But it better be worth it.” He could already picture Changbin giving his signature grin to an imaginary Jisung in front of him as his idea was being accepted.

“You're making the right decision my friend.”

Something about Changbin's confidence made Jisung get an uneasy feeling in his stomach. Oh what in the world was he about to get himself into?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It'd be great if you guys could leave some feedback in the comments, otherwise I won't know what you think or how to improve! 
> 
> for anyone interested in more yelling about skz (and some other fandoms too), find me on my tumblr @dudeflovski


	6. In which love is being shot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jisung wouldn't say he was bad at playing games, but Felix was definitely on another level.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y'all thought i was dead but i'm alive! and done with my finals! as a compensation for the wait i made this chapter a little longer than usual (just a little bit bc you can only expect that much of me). thank you to everyone who's still sticking by, big shout-out to you!  
> now pls enjoy

He didn't think he'd ever find himself in a situation like this, but Han Jisung was prepared for everything. Or at least he wished he was. 

How he thought he'd handle things vs. how he actually handled things was something that didn't align with one another quite often, no matter how much effort he put into it. But today was going to be fine. Just fine.

Everything had already worked out the way he wanted it to go, he had come farther in his life than he'd ever thought he would, and now it was important to stay cool and to not lose his nerves at his important goal. His important mission. Mission: Make Lee Felix fall hopelessly in love with you.

With Changbin's advice and his own wit, Jisung was going to make this work. Somehow. Definitely. At some point in the future at least.

With the most amount of courage he could muster up (which he didn't let Felix know about of course), he had coolly asked Felix out on an arcade date. Okay, maybe he hadn't worded it _exactly_ like that, but the sentiment was the same. Technically.

And he tried to hide an excited little squeal when Felix had accepted his invitation _with a smile_.  
He actually seemed to be _looking forward_ to what Jisung had suggested. And it was an absolute dream. It was so much of a dream actually, that Jisung felt like he needed to pinch himself again when he stood there in the entrance hall of the local arcade center on a busy afternoon, with Felix right by his side who was already checking out the different slot-machines and games he could spot.

There was loud noise everywhere, bright neon lights and people crowding around various games, waiting for their turn on the most popular ones. Felix tugged at Jisung's sleeve distractedly while motioning into a vague direction. 

“Let's play this!” he said, more like a command than a suggestion, and Jisung let himself be dragged with him. Felix's grip on his sleeve was gentle and yet firm, pulling Jisung into his direction and yet not making him feel like he was being forced.

The game Felix wanted to play was popular. There were so many people standing in line, it made Jisung search for any signs that displayed the waiting time on them, like '30 minutes from here on' or '60 minutes from here on'. He couldn't find any, but he felt that their entire stay was going to be spent waiting in that line for a multiplayer shooter-game. Jisung recognized the mechanics; he had seen the game being advertised on the outside walls of the arcade for the well-developed controls and the realistic and expensive looking guns you were playing with, together with the incredible HD graphics that were supposed to revolutionize every other arcade game in existence. Of course Felix would be excited to play something like this. At school, Jisung always heard him talk to their other classmates about the newest video games that had come out. And then it dawned upon Jisung that maybe Felix didn't accept his date because he wanted to spend more time with him, but because it gave him the chance to check out the new game he was interested in.

He already imagined Changbin yelling at him for thinking like that. Unnecessary thoughts like that were only a burden and needed to be gotten rid of.

To his surprise, the line moved on quite quickly as to what he had expected, and only after ten minutes of waiting time it was soon about to be their turn. Felix kept shuffling around to sneak a peek at the game while others were playing. His eyes were sparkling with excitement and his lips curved up into a bright smile, slightly agape. With his whole figure bathed in the neon light, his freckles were barely visible. His hair looked like it had gotten streaks in pink and yellow; a look Jisung had never considered but was endeared to see. He looked stunningly beautiful.

“Next!” a worker called out, signaling both Jisung and Felix that they could approach. The worker was waiting for some kind of payment and Jisung reached out to grab his wallet, before Felix stopped him and nodded towards him.

“This one's on me.” 

Felix nearly skipped his way to the machine, settling in the only other empty spot opposite Jisung. There were five other players with them, all forming a circle standing like that together. Everyone had a separate screen and gun to play with, and the goal was to survive as long as possible. Whoever died was automatically out of the game and had to leave the circle and go back into the line if they wanted to play again. A round went on until only one player was left.

Jisung wouldn't say he was bad at the game, and he definitely wasn't the first one who had to leave, but it didn't take too long until it was game over for him and he dropped his gun and left the area to stand at the side to wait for Felix. The controls were super easy, you only had to shoot the enemies, but the difficulty with which the enemies approached you was not to be underestimated. The game went on and on, and all of the other players had dropped out already, except for Felix and a girl around the same age as him. Her movements were incredibly quick and swift, she hit her targets precisely with every shot. But Felix held up just as well as she did. Both of them didn't seem to make any mistakes and even passers-by stopped to watch them play. They were incredibly good at playing.

It was mesmerizing to watch them. Felix had a concentrated and stern look on his face Jisung had never seen on him before, it was like he had turned into a different person.

The girl hissed suddenly, having realized she had made a mistake even before she missed her target, and dropped out of the game. The disappointment in her eyes and anger at herself was visible, and Felix turned towards her and stretched out his hand. 

“Well played. They nearly got me there for a second and I thought it was over for me” he chuckled sheepishly. It was like he had dropped back into reality again. The girl's facial features relaxed now and she returned the offered handshake with a smile.

“Thanks, you were really good, too.”

Then they separated and new players were put to their spots. Felix skipped back to Jisung with a satisfied smile on his lips. 

“Totally worth it. I've been dying to finally play this. Thanks for sticking around.” He looked around for a bit, then at Jisung again. “There has to be something you want to play too right?”

The game Changbin had recommended. It suddenly came to Jisung's mind as he searched the hall with his gaze to find another game to play.

“I think I've got something” Jisung mentioned. Felix looked at him with curiosity in his eyes.

“Okay, shoot.”

Jisung grabbed Felix's hand, like Felix had done before. Okay, maybe Felix hadn't grabbed his hand but only his sleeve, but Jisung wasn't about to be picky with this and he hoped Felix wasn't either. As Changbin had said, he needed to be bold, and this was about the biggest amount of boldness Jisung could manage right now without giving himself away. Being bold while not being _too_ bold. Conveying your feelings to your crush while not being too obvious about it.  
How was it possible to find a balance between these things?  
This was just too hard, and Jisung wished there was a guide for this, so he didn't feel like he was stumbling in the dark the entire time.

Guiding Felix through the arcade center, Jisung wasn't really sure where to go to find the game he was searching for, but he made it seem like he knew exactly what he was doing. He turned several corners, passed multiple games, and all of this while still clutching Felix's hand tightly, who just followed him in silence.

“Haven't we been here before?” Felix remarked after a while and it dawned upon Jisung too that they'd been walking in a circle.

“Ah yeah sorry, I took the wrong turn,” Jisung jumped in, “hold on.”

In hopes of getting somewhere with this, Jisung went into the opposite direction this time, wiggling himself and Felix through the people in their way. Turning yet another corner, Jisung finally found what he'd been searching for, and with that, his face also fell from a relieved smile into an expression of sheer horror as he looked upon the booth of the game Changbin had recommended.  
'Love Shooter' was written in thick and bright pink, swirly letters and the entire booth was covered in illustrations of pink and peach-colored hearts. The inside of the booth was hidden with a thick dark curtain to prevent outsiders from having a look of what was going on. 

“What-” Jisung let out under a barely audible whisper, before Felix piped up behind him. He had nearly forgotten he was still standing there, his hand also _still_ in Jisung's. Jisung let go of it immediately.

“Is this it?” Felix asked, now walking up next to Jisung and eyeing the booth more closely.

Jisung wanted to yell 'no', wanted to say that he just stopped walking to think about the correct route to the actual game he wanted to play, but out of his mouth only came a 'yes' because he didn't know which other game to pull out of his sleeve so suddenly. He didn't have anything else to play with Felix, so he might as well just accept the instant death his relationship to Felix was going to face with this.

Felix stepped forward first and pulled the curtain aside to get access to the booth and Jisung took a deep breath and followed him. The interior of the booth was dark because of the curtain, but there was a big and bright screen in front of them which illuminated parts of it, and a seat and controller for each. The game was explicitly designed to be played by exactly two people. Felix already took a seat and examined his controller and Jisung fished for a coin in his pocket to insert into the machine. He had no idea how to play this game and he assumed Felix didn't either. Taking a seat with his own controller in his hands, Jisung was relieved to see that the game cared enough to explain the rules shortly before it started. And if he had thought it was already bad enough, he definitely had to reevaluate this statement now.

Both of them had to choose a character first, either male or female. Both Jisung and Felix went for the male character. The controls were simple. Left and Right for moving, Up for jumping, A for shooting, B for reloading and X for 'Special Attack'. But what were they shooting? This is where Jisung's already horrified expression just completely cemented. 

The game consisted of you, the character, running around and shooting random girls with a 'love potion', so they fell in love with you. There were 'special girls' that were hard to find and hard to shoot and gave extra points when you still managed to get them. Whoever got the highest score after the time limit ended, won the round. The catch of the game was that both players did have their separate screen, but were ultimately still set in the same area, so if both of them found a 'special girl', they had to fight over it on who would get her first. 

Jisung was going to strangle Changbin. Just what the hell was he thinking, recommending this game to him to play with Felix?! Everytime Jisung managed to intoxicate a girl with his potion shooter and heard a close to obnoxious-sounding moan coming from her, he was one step closer to jumping out of the booth and going straight after Changbin. Felix, meanwhile, did quite well. He collected lots of potion-ammo and even managed to find two 'special girls' already. He didn't seem to be nearly as bothered as Jisung did, and the longer the game kept going, the more Jisung had to admit to himself that it was actually quite fun to play.

“You're pretty good at this” Jisung commented after a while.

“Thank you. I would've thought you're better at this, since you're the one who recommended it” Felix returned, the cheeky grin evident in his tone.

“Are you challenging me?” Jisung asked, feeling insulted but also incited to prove Felix wrong.

“If you can handle it.”

If Jisung wasn't so competitive, he would've ignored Felix comment with a chuckle, but he was ready to pounce. No matter if he was his crush or not, Jisung was going to show him who he just underestimated.

“Oh just you wait.”

His grip on his controller immediately tightened. He was going to show Felix his gaming-skills, and even if it was just for a stupid game like this. And there was his opportunity! For the first time since the start of the round, Jisung had spotted a 'special girl' and went after her. For intoxicating this girl, he needed to repeatedly push the A button very quickly to 'overwhelm her blocking powers'. The more Jisung thought about how this game actually worked, the weirder he felt about it, but he cut those thoughts out to focus on winning. He nearly had destroyed all her blocking powers and felt sure about his success, when the 'special girl's' won-over heart jumped over to Felix' character that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

“Hey-! That was mine!” Jisung snapped scandalized.

“Too slow I guess” Felix retorted coolly and moved on with his character. There was nothing left of the sweet and cute guy Jisung got to know, only a Felix that knew no mercy and found pleasure in mocking Jisung's gaming skills.

Jisung huffed and continued too. There had to be a way with which he could surpass Felix, right? He tried to remember the given instructions at the beginning. A to shoot, B to reload and.... X for 'special attack'? What exactly was a 'special attack'? He hadn't seen Felix use something like this yet, maybe he had forgotten about it too. 

Felix had yet again found another 'special girl' and was currently trying to win her over, so Jisung figured it was his chance to step in now. He'd pay him back, hopefully.

“You're too late,” Felix said with confidence as Jisung's character approached, “I've already got her.”

It was now or never. Jisung pressed the X button on his controller and a bright light appeared. Felix seemed to be thrown off by this. The game froze for a moment before Jisung's character got a short animated cut-scene and dramatically blew a kiss that flew over to the girl and immediately made her fall for him. 

“How did you do that?!” Felix looked genuinely surprised and his eyes were huge and wide. It actually made him look really adorable, even when Jisung was supposed to see him as his rival for now. He smirked smugly.

“You'd like to know that, wouldn't you?”

Felix frowned at him and went back to the game, trying to concentrate even more now. Jisung's smugness didn't last long though, because soon Felix had found out the little trick too and started to catch up to him again. A triumphant smile was visible on his lips and Jisung scoffed.

“Don't get ahead of yourself.”

Felix's smile just deepened at the remark, followed by a combo-breaker on his part in the game. Jisung had to admit: he was just really good at gaming. It had been kind of obvious with how much he usually swooned over games in school, but now Jisung had seen the proof for it and he knew he had no chance of winning against Felix, no matter how hard he tried.

The timer was about to run out, and Jisung took his last chance of getting a 'special girl' that appeared right in front of him. While shooting at her he realized that his ammo was low and that he forgot to stock up on it. *Oh no, come on!* he thought distressed, smashing any kind of button at this point. He wanted to use the blowing-kiss special attack, but even this one had apparently only limited access and had run out already.

“No, I need this kiss come on!” Jisung yelled at the screen, helplessly watching the timer drop to zero and the screen showing a big 'YOU LOSE' on his side. “Ugh.” He dropped back into his seat with a sigh.

Felix, whose side displayed a 'YOU WIN', chuckled warmly and lifted two fingers up to his lips before blowing a little kiss over to Jisung. “Sure, you needed it in the game, but here you go anyway.” It's like his competitive gamer-spirit had suddenly vanished and was replaced by all the sweetness Jisung used to know. Jisung's heart thumped loudly in his chest. He pulled out another coin.

“Rematch?” he offered with a smile. Felix confidently grinned at him.

“Sure.”

No matter how many rematches Jisung asked of Felix, they all ended up the same. He lost again and again, sometimes just barely, other times in a crushing defeat. But apart from all of that, he had fun. He had so much fun playing and he didn't even know why. Competing against Felix made him feel all excited, it was a challenge, even in a stupid game like this. And Jisung's over-dramatic antics amused Felix greatly, although they didn't make him go softer on him. They laughed and pushed each other over stolen potions, yelled at the screen in panic when their score was tied close to the end of a round, and Felix let out a yelp of joy like an excited little puppy when he won the close round anyway. The shitty game had turned out to be quite the bonding-opportunity, and it happened unconsciously and naturally. Maybe Jisung really owed Changbin his gratitude for whatever kind of mess he had made them play.

Eventually, they moved on. They had occupied the booth long enough, even though Jisung was sure nobody wanted to play the game anyway. Passing a claw crane, Felix suddenly halted. His eyes were glued to the contents of it, as he had spotted something that seemed to interest him in particular. It was a plushie of a brown platypus with big round eyes and a dark flat snout. 

“Hold on a second, I really want to get this” he said with a twinkle in his eyes and immediately inserted money into the machine. But contrary to Felix's gaming skills, his skills at the claw crane were far below average, and even after his seventh attempt he didn't manage to get the platypus in the slightest. It was pitiful to watch him struggle like that, lower lip caught between his teeth and brows wrinkled, while trying to move the claw as precisely over the plushie as he could.

Jisung gently moved his hands from the controls. “Let me try, okay?”  
If there was one thing he was at least really good at, it was catching things in claw cranes. Felix looked at him slightly taken aback, but then nodded and stepped aside.

A bit careless, Jisung started his first attempt. He already grabbed the platypus, but after moving it around for a bit, it fell down again into the masses of other plushies. Jisung cleared his throat and fished for another coin in his pocket. Surely, he had fallen victim to his own carelessness and needed to concentrate a bit harder next time. “Don't worry, I got this” he assured Felix beside him.

He tried again. But no better luck this time.

“What the fu-” he started, but stopped in the middle of his sentence. 

“You can do it!” Felix cheered from the side, viewing Jisung as his only hope in getting that plushie, but then suddenly hesitated. “No wait, you don't have to do this, it's alright. It's your money that's wasted, so please let me try again on my own.”

“No, I'm going to get this damn platypus, and if it's the last thing I do. Look at it, it's mocking me” Jisung huffed, inserting another coin into the machine while the platypus plushie looked at both of them with its big wide eyes.

In the end, he triumphantly held the plushie in his hands and handed it over to Felix, who accepted it delicately.  
“Thank you so much!” Felix beamed, holding more gratitude in his eyes than he could ever express with words. 

“No problem man” Jisung replied, feeling proud after having gotten a hold of the damn piece of plush that apparently caused Felix so much happiness, for whatever reason.

They made their way out of the arcade center since it had gotten late already, and Jisung didn't miss the adoration with which Felix eyed the platypus, as he clutched it tightly to his chest. His eyes wandered over to Jisung and he gave him the perhaps warmest smile Jisung had ever seen on him. And Jisung smiled back, trying to return that warmth as much as it was possible for him to do so.

Their way back to the subway station at dusk was quiet, but not the unpleasant kind. It was a comfortable silence that lasted between them as the sun set on the horizon and painted the houses and street lamps around them in warm shades of orange and red. Before separating for their subways, Felix gave him a hug and waved at him before the doors closed; the stuffed animal still clutched tightly with one arm.

Upon arriving at home, Jisung immediately got a call from Changbin. It was as if the guy had known Jisung had just come home.

“So, how did it go?” was the first thing he threw at him before he even greeted him. 

“I cannot believe you'd dare to recommend a game like that to me, it's a pile of shit” Jisung answered with an accusing tone in his voice, but it still couldn't stop the smile that had been plastered on his face the entire way back home from spreading even further.

From the window of his room, he watched the last rays of sunlight disappear into the atmosphere, before he drew the blinds and let the day come to an end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feedback and comments are always encouraged and appreciated ~
> 
> i changed my tumblr, so whoever wants to hit me up there to yell about skz, it's @chris-toffee now


	7. In which a hint of jealousy creeps up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shit, Jisung hadn't told them about his crush yet. No wonder Seungmin seemed so dissatisfied with him spending so much time with Felix in school; the guy had no idea Jisung liked Felix.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't really have much to say except that the comeback still leaves me shook to this day and I can't stop listening to any of the songs.
> 
> well as always, pls enjoy

School had never been Jisung's thing. 

All these confusing formulas and unnecessary facts he had to remember or learn by heart really had trouble making it into his brain and staying there for a longer period than two days. It wasn't better to see his friends excel in these fields, while he had to depend on them to help him with studying, or otherwise he'd fall behind. Having Seungmin as a friend came in handy in these kinds of situations, because the boy basically knew everything that was taught in class, and Jisung had never experienced that there was a question he couldn't answer when he helped him study. On the other hand, it made him feel bad if he had to rely on other people too much to get something done. Jisung was never one to accept too much help from others, as it made him feel powerless and stupid. He didn't like to feel that way.

Exam season had just passed, and while his friends had spent their days inside, studying as hard as they could, Jisung had spent more days than not roaming around outside with no specific thing to do. It made him feel at ease to be outside because it made it seem like all the things that troubled him could be left behind if he went to places that weren't part of his daily life. He knew better than anyone else that this behavior didn't actually solve any of his problems, but he couldn't help but fall back on this method of dealing with things.

He was sitting in class right now again, trying to pay attention to the teacher for once, when suddenly a tiny ball of paper flew against his head and made him lose focus. Jisung turned to his right side, looking right into a pair of dark brown eyes that had been waiting for him to turn towards them. 

Seungmin was staring at him intently. Without any exchange of words, Jisung knew what he wanted and just nodded at him with an annoyed sigh. Seungmin turned his attention back towards the blackboard instantly. Jisung let out another sigh. Did he have to do this every time?

After classes ended, Jisung approached Seungmin in the hallway in front of his locker. He was putting some books inside and rummaged through his backpack.

“You do know that you can stop throwing these papers, right?” Jisung said, leaning against the locker next to him.

“Well, if I didn't do it, how would I know if you're going to eat lunch with us in the break?” Seungmin returned nonchalantly. He placed a folder into his locker.

“You can ask? You know, like a normal person?” Jisung said. “Also, when do I not eat lunch with you guys?”

“When you're eating with Felix” Seungmin deadpanned and closed his locker, turning to look at him.

“It doesn't even happen _that_ often. Apart from that, we can all eat together, can't we? You don't have to move away just because there's another person sitting with us” Jisung persuaded him, knowing that Seungmin was a bit more on guard when it came to people he didn't know well.

“Is Hyunjin okay with this?” he asked, after scrutinizing Jisung as if he was looking for anything that would show hidden intentions. 

“Why wouldn't he be?” Jisung just returned, already accustomed to Seungmin's judging looks and not at all affected by them anymore.

“Guys, have you been waiting for long?”

Speak of the devil. Hyunjin came strutting down the hallway and already waved at them when they turned around to look at him.

“No, we didn't,” Seungmin said, “but we were discussing something.”

“You can hardly call that a discussion” Jisung threw in before Hyunjin looked at them curiously. 

“Discussion? What's going on?” 

“Jisung wants Felix to sit with us.”

At that, Hyunjin's features brightened up. “Felix? That's the new guy from Australia, right?”  
Jisung nodded.  
“How come you've been so close with him recently?” Hyunjin added.

Shit, Jisung hadn't told them about his crush yet. No wonder Seungmin seemed so dissatisfied with him spending so much time with Felix in school; the guy had no idea Jisung liked Felix. He probably thought Jisung was neglecting them or something, even though Hyunjin didn't seem to feel the same way. It made Jisung want to smile. Seungmin always kept up a cool and serious facade, but in the end he really cared about the little things that maybe wouldn't even bother others. It was cute of him to be so worried, but Jisung decided to not tell both of them the truth just yet.

“We happened to discover that we have some pretty similar interests and it just clicked really fast.”

Wow, what a convenient lie. Jisung wasn't actually sure if they had so many interests in common, but for some reason they both actually did click well with each other and it was still a mystery to him as to why. 

The three of them ended up eating lunch together in the cafeteria of the school. Hyunjin told a story about his math classes Jisung only paid little attention to, but Seungmin was listening closely to every word he said. 

“Don't you ever get tired of them?” 

After Jisung didn't hear any more talking after that, he snapped out of his daydreaming and found that Hyunjin was looking at him.

“Hm, what?”

Hyunjin pointed towards his plate. “The chicken sandwiches. You keep on ordering them. Aren't you getting tired of always eating the same thing?”

“No, not really.” Jisung didn't bother to come up with a different answer, since it was only the truth. He eyed the sandwich in his hand that was filled with chicken slices, eggs and mayonnaise and took a bite out of it. Surprisingly, after all of these days of ordering them, he indeed didn't grow tired of them. Maybe because Jisung always ordered things out of habit, like the cream coffee at coffee shops or the cheesecake at bakeries, and just stuck with it. Or maybe because it was the thing they had eaten in the park a few weeks ago, when Felix and him hung out for the first time. The taste of the cheap and soggy chicken sandwich he'd bought in the convenience store surprisingly stuck with him since then, and he couldn't help but wanting to taste it afterwards again and again, as if it'd allow him to experience the memory another time with every time he ate it.

Suddenly he heard a tray clatter right next to him as it hit the table, and the chair next to him was pushed back before someone took a seat on it. Of course Jisung recognized the freckled boy immediately, but he had someone in tow with him.

“Hey Jisung,” Felix beamed, pushing his backpack under his seat and drawing up his chair to the table. The boy next to him took a seat as well, although way more hesitant. Jisung needed a second to recognize the familiar features of the smaller boy before he recalled him again. “Hope you don't mind if we sit with you guys. I brought Jeongin with me this time.”

At the mention of his name, Jeongin looked into the round of people with an awkward expression before he quietly introduced himself to the others and then immediately proceeded to bite into his lunch to distract himself from the awkward tension he thought he had created.

“Oh- of course not. Sit with us” Jisung welcomed him, without sparing a glance towards Seungmin, who probably had immediately switched into his defense mode with the arrival of two new people.

“Hi!” came the greeting from Hyunjin, but with way more enthusiasm than Jisung would have expected. But to no surprise, Seungmin looked rather unsure and on guard when Jisung checked. 

“What's up, I'm Felix” Felix emphasized for the two boys again, as to make sure they didn't feel left out. Perhaps he had also noticed Seungmin's slight discomfort, but there was no way of knowing that.

“I'm Hyunjin. Hwang Hyunjin from the parallel class.”

“Kim Seungmin.”

Seungmin's introduction was as curt as always, making Felix not ask any other questions. Jisung felt like he had to lighten the mood.

“So Felix, how's living with Chan so far?” 

Felix's features immediately lit up again and he began talking. “Oh, it's just fine. For now I'm still sleeping on the couch and Chan is barely at home, but if I want something from him I can just go downstairs and he'll be there most of the time. After all these years, living together feels like a little dream come true. I don't think a lot of people have the chance to experience something like this. Which reminds me, would it be alright if I join you guys in the studio again today? I've heard from Chan that you're having a songwriting session again and I think it'd be neat to join in. I already texted Changbin about it and he said he's fine with it.”

*Of course he'd be fine with it* Jisung thought, already scared that Changbin would try something that exposed him when Felix was there, but he shoved that thought aside. “Sure, you're always welcome. I told you so before, remember?”  
Seungmin shuffled a bit now. “How come you've never invited Hyunjin and me to the studio Jisung?”

Oh. Now that he thought about it, that seemed to be true.

“...I didn't think you guys would be interested to be honest.”

“Personally, I think it'd be neat. I'd love to come” Hyunjin piped in, clueless to the slight tension that had built up. 

“Oh well then, you guys are encouraged to come too. I can take you there right after school if you don't mind.”

“Sure” Seungmin said and a nod of approval followed from Hyunjin. Jeongin still sat there at the side of the table, eating away on his lunch like everything didn't concern him. Jisung wondered if he even paid any attention to their conversation.

“Jeongin, do you want to come too? You seemed to be interested in our music the last time I mentioned it in the park” Jisung probed carefully. Jeongin seemed to have been taken out of a trance as he suddenly tuned into reality again and looked at Jisung with somewhat wide eyes like the sudden attention of everyone was something he wasn't used to.

“Um- I'd love to come but today is not really the right day I think. I have some... stuff to do.”

“Oh, alright then. Maybe next time.”

Jeongin just nodded and went back to his lunch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

It felt a bit weird to have so many people in tow on his way to the studio, especially since it felt like there was a wall between the people who followed him. Felix obviously knew the way already, since he lived in the same building now, whereas Hyunjin and Seungmin stayed close to Jisung. Every now and then, Hyunjin engaged in some kind of conversation with Felix, while Seungmin just kept quiet the entire way and made sure to stay closer to Jisung.

Changbin and Chan would already be there, Jisung knew that already as he turned the key in the lock. From within, he heard the faint sound of a beat pulsing, and when he opened the door, the sound immediately grew louder and gave away the instrumental of the song they were currently working at. In the studio, Chan and Changbin were reviewing the audio file together.

“Hey! We're here!” Jisung shouted against the noise, until both of them turned around and were surprised to see four people instead of two. Changbin turned off the song.

“What? Has this suddenly become a hangout place?” he scoffed, eyeing the two new faces.

“I brought them over to let them have a look” Jisung returned and closed the door behind them. Hyunjin and Seungmin waddled into the room in awkwardness and stood somewhere by the side whereas Felix already jumped onto one of the swivel chairs after having taken off his backpack and tossing it to the side.

“You can put your bags into the corner and take a seat, don't be shy” Chan said in a gentle voice after noticing that their guests didn't quite know what to do with themselves. He stood up to greet them properly. “I'm Chan and this is my studio, glad to have you guys here. You're friends of Jisung?”

“Yeah, we are” Hyunjin answered a bit more relaxed after introducing himself together with Seungmin. “Thank you for having us.” 

“No worries guys,” Chan laughed, “just make yourselves at home, there's no need to be so stuck up. We're all chill here.”

A bit relieved, both Seungmin and Hyunjin took a seat in the two armchairs at the side, while Jisung joined Chan and Changbin at the computer. “How's it going so far?”

“Pretty good,” Changbin commented, “have you brought the lyrics I asked you to revise?” 

“Sure thing” Jisung said and handed a notebook he pulled out of his bag to Changbin. He flicked through it and read through some parts more thoroughly with wrinkled brows before he came to a conclusion.

“Thanks a lot. These are some nice additions, I like them.”

Changbin had asked him to review some of the lyrics he'd written last time and to give him suggestions and maybe some refinement on some parts. It was the first time he'd asked Jisung to do that for him. It seemed like Jisung's opinion was important to him and that he valued his skills enough to trust him with his own work, and it made a feeling of pride bubble up in Jisung. 

“Jisung, do you write lyrics often?” Felix suddenly piped up behind them.

“Every now and then I guess. I'm not really part of the song production itself, I just take part in writing the lyrics. So I do that here, at home, in class... kind of anywhere if I'm in the mood.”

“Is that what you're always doing when you're not paying any attention to the teacher?” Seungmin interrupted him from his seat. 

Chan chuckled. “Jisung, remember to study well, alright?”

“Are you my dad?” Jisung frowned. “Besides, I am studying well.”

“That'd be new” Seungmin intervened again.

“Shut up Seungmin” Jisung retorted and the hints of a sly grin spread over Seungmin's face. 

All of a sudden, Hyunjin stood up and walked towards them. He had been silent this entire time and had only watched. He walked over to Changbin's side and bent over a bit. 

“Can I watch what you're doing from here? I can't really see anything from where I'm sitting.” 

Changbin was caught a bit off guard. “Yeah sure.” He pulled the empty swivel chair next to him a bit closer and pointed towards it. “Have a seat.”

Hyunjin accepted the invitation with a smile and scooched closer to Changbin's side. Seungmin remained where he was sitting, not bothering to do anything else except for looking over every now and then, sometimes to Chan and Changbin, most of the time to Jisung, and sometimes even to Felix, who kept on watching the trio work. 

Hyunjin, in the meantime, stuck close to Changbin and kept asking him about his work. 'How does this work?' or 'What did you do here?' were questions he kept throwing at him with huge interest sparkling in his eyes. Jisung nearly feared that Changbin would be annoyed with him after a while, but it seemed to be quite the opposite. Changbin engaged into Hyunjin's conversation attempts quite enthusiastically, like he was happy that someone showed so much interest in his work, and was glad to explain the thoughts behind the results. 

Quite some time passed like this, and apart from from Changbin's and Hyunjin's occasional chats and Chan answering some of Jisung's in-between questions, it remained mostly silent in the studio. If there weren't any audio files blaring through the speakers, that is. 

Suddenly the doorbell rang and even Chan stopped working in his surprise. 

“Who's this?” Jisung asked confused, since everyone who knew where the studio was already sat in the room. Felix already jumped up and went for the door when Seungmin replied: “It's my brother. He sent me a text message asking where I am because he needs to pick me up for something that came up. I told him I'm here, so he came by after I gave him the address.” 

Felix opened the door and revealed a young man, about medium height, standing in the hallway. His hair and eyes were a shade of dark brown, while his clothes pleasantly contrasted the dark color with a white sweater and light brown cargo shorts. 

“Woojin, you're here already” Seungmin said and started packing up his stuff.

“I told you something has come up, of course I got here faster than usual. Come on now, let's go.”  
Seungmin's brother looked into the crowd that was assembled in the room. “My apologies for ripping Seungmin away from you so suddenly, but he has to go now. I'm sure he'll find the time to join you again some time.” 

“It's alright” Jisung said. “See you in school Seungmin.” 

Seungmin turned around again and smiled at him faintly. “Yeah, see you. And thanks for inviting me over today.” Then he swiftly left the room and Woojin closed the door behind them. 

Jisung was set on getting back to work again, when he noticed something weird. Chan was still staring at the door, like he was in a daze, his mouth slightly agape. It took him a moment to snap out of it before he returned to his audio file like nothing had happened at all. No one else seemed to have noticed this, except for Jisung himself. 

Had Chan just blushed? And if yes, then why? What could he suddenly have thought about? Jisung shook his head and turned to his sheet again. He had probably just imagined something for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~ feedback and comments are always appreciated ~~


	8. In which Chan gets a visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Out of everything, Chan had seemed the most out of place to Jisung, so one afternoon he figured he should check up on the matter.

Quite some time had passed since that day where everyone had gathered in the studio like that. 

One would think an occurrence like that didn't change anything, yet something seemed different to Jisung after that day. He felt like something had changed, at school as well as at the studio. Yet it didn't seem significant enough that it'd make much of a difference in Jisung's daily life. 

At the studio, Chan seemed absent-minded a lot of times. Jisung chalked it down to him being too exhausted from working at first, but soon he realized that this wasn't quite it. At school things should have been calm, yet Jisung couldn't shake off the feeling that there was some kind of unresolved tension lingering in the air when he was together with Hyunjin and Seungmin.

Right now it really did seem like the only person that hadn't changed at all was Felix. And that was quite the irony in itself. 

Out of everything, Chan had seemed the most out of place to Jisung, so one afternoon he figured he should check up on the matter. He planned on visiting Chan at home and maybe asking him if everything was alright. Maybe he wouldn't even ask him and just spend some time with him to take some weight off his shoulders. If there was any, that is. Maybe Jisung just got everything completely wrong and there actually wasn't anything happening at all. But he figured he should make an attempt just in case.

When he knocked at Chan's door, but was greeted with a face with freckled cheeks, it struck him again that Felix had already moved in with Chan a while ago. He gave Jisung a toothy smile.

“Jisung, what a surprise! I didn't know you were coming over today.”

Jisung scratched the back of his neck a bit embarrassed. “Well, I actually didn't let anyone know, so I'm sorry if I'm intruding. Is Chan here?”

“Yeah, he's in his room. And don't worry about it, you're not intruding. Come on in, I'll let Chan know in a second.”

Felix already darted off and called for Chan, while Jisung took off his shoes in the hallway. Not long afterwards, a head full of messy dark curls appeared around the corner in a sluggish manner, giving away that Chan had probably woken up from a nap not long ago.

“Jisung? What are you doing here?” he asked, scratching through his curls in an attempt to smooth them down a bit.

“I was in the area and thought I'd pay you a visit. Sorry that I didn't text you beforehand.”

In reality, Jisung didn't forget to text him, but hadn't texted Chan on purpose because he feared the other would've come up with an excuse to not meet up if Jisung had asked so straight-forward. If Chan wanted to hide something, he usually did so by avoiding anyone who tried to meddle with the matter, so if Jisung wanted to get anything out of him, he had to confront him in person.

“It's okay, I'm not busy anyway.”

“Can we talk? In your room?” Jisung blurted out, not even trying to be subtle about it.

Chan looked mildly surprised, but agreed. “Yeah, sure. This way.”

Jisung had been to Chan's apartment multiple times and knew his way around it quite well, but somehow Chan still insisted on leading the way. In his room, he closed the door behind him. His bed sheets were messy and there was a laptop on standby on the desk. Chan took a seat on the bed and looked up at Jisung.

“What's up?”

“Is there anything wrong?” Jisung asked.

“Huh?” 

“You've been acting weird lately. I feel like something's off. Do you want to talk about it?” he continued. Chan looked a bit thrown off and he thought for a bit before Jisung could see slight shades of pink on his cheeks that vanished quickly afterwards. 

“I don't know where you got this from, but everything's fine” Chan claimed, but his gaze darted off to a different direction to avoid eye contact.

 _Liar_ , Jisung thought to himself but didn't say so in front of Chan. He had always been a bad liar, but Jisung never pointed it out so he could continue to spot Chan's lies whenever he made one up (which didn't happen often).

“Are you sure about that?” Jisung asked instead. “You've been like this since... Well, since that time I brought so many people to the studio and Seungmin's brother came to pick him up.”

“Jisung, what are you on about?” Chan cut through his words, in a strangely defensive way. Jisung seemed to have struck a nerve, but he didn't know how to pursue this matter any further without possibly upsetting Chan. For some reason the guy was unusually sensitive about this; it wasn't like him at all to be like that. What had happened on that day?

“Are you actually mad that I brought so many people to the studio?” Jisung asked carefully.

Chan looked a bit irritated before he denied it: “What? No, of course not! You know it never bothers me when you bring others to our studio, as long as they don't damage anything.”

Well yeah, that was true. Asking that question had been pointless, yet Jisung didn't know what to ask instead. He figured that he wasn't able to approach the matter for now, and instead should try again later at some point. 

“Well, if there's something, you know you can always talk to me. I see that right now it's not a good timing, and I don't really know what's going on, but it's also not my place to force you to say anything, so yeah... I'll be going now I guess.” 

He waited for Chan to say anything in response, but he kept quiet and stared at the wooden floor in front of him. Jisung turned around and left the room.

“Is everything alright?” Felix asked from the couch after the door to Chan's room shut close and only Jisung appeared out of it.

“Yeah, it's fine” Jisung just said, not knowing if he sounded convincing enough.

Felix patted the space next to him. “Come on, sit down.”

Jisung felt like Felix was about to give him a counseling lesson like he was a parent that tried to talk to his child after they had had an argument or fight. Feeling a bit weird about it, Jisung took a seat next to Felix, but Felix did none of that counseling stuff; he just completely changed the topic and didn't seem bothered at all.

“Did you already pack up everything for the class trip next week?” he asked instead.

Oh yeah. There was that. Well, calling it a 'class trip' was definitely an understatement, since their entire grade was going on the trip for the entire upcoming week. It was a special event their school organized every year shortly before the summer holidays and after the first exam term had passed. And no, Jisung hadn't really packed much for it yet. Actually, nothing at all. He usually didn't look forward to these trips, because the teachers still managed to smuggle just enough 'educational activities' into the schedule to ruin everyone's fun.

“Nope” Jisung said because of that, and upon noticing Felix's slightly disapproving look, he added: “But I will start with it when I'm home again, don't worry. There's still enough time.”

To speak the truth, if this trip wasn't mandatory to every student in the grade, Jisung wouldn't go; but well... Felix was there this time, wasn't he?

Suddenly Jisung realized how much this changed the situation. One week at Felix's side with rarely any breaks in between... Before Jisung could finish his thought, his mouth already opened by itself.

“Hey, do you want to share a room with me on the trip?”

Felix's face brightened up with a smile and he nodded. “Yeah, let's do that, it's gonna be fun!”

That was easier than he had thought. Pondering upon it, Felix really was incredibly open towards Jisung and had been for all the time they've known each other. Was he really like this towards everyone, or did Jisung's imagination run wild again? He didn't like to get his hopes up too much, but did Felix maybe actually really like him? At least as a really good friend? There was a good chance for that, and just the thought of it raised Jisung's spirits immensely.

“Hey uh, by the way...” Felix started now and he seemed a bit flustered, “I know it's a stupid question, but your hair is dyed, right?”

The question came out of nowhere, and Jisung just nodded. Did it look bad? He knew this orange-yellowish color was quite unusual to see on someone, but he had always thought it suited him, especially since no one ever said anything negative about it.

“It's really cool” Felix said then, still examining the hair closely under his gaze. “I've always wanted to dye my hair like that too, but my parents never allowed me to. It's different now, but I don't know if it'd suit me if I did.”

Felix dyeing his hair? You had to be kidding him, there was no way the guy thought he could look bad with it. From first glance one could see that Felix had the kind of face that would suit any hair color, no matter what he decided for. Jisung already imagined him with every kind of color he could think of; black, blonde, maybe even red. Everything would look amazing on him.

“Are you kidding me? Jisung then actually said, “You would look great in any hair color! Just do it, there's no regrets. You can get any color and I know it's going to look great on you.”

Felix laughed. “Really? You think so? Thanks then, I'll keep it in mind.”

Jisung then got up from the couch. 

“Wait, you're going already?” Felix said and one was able to hear the pout in his voice. “You've been here for like... five minutes at most?”

“Yeah that's true, but don't forget that you just reminded me to pack up all my stuff for Monday for the trip. I gotta start with it now.”

Actually Jisung didn't even plan to start packing up when he got home. Well, thinking about it, he could really start with it though, it didn't hurt.  
The real reason why he was suddenly so ready to leave was because he felt like it wasn't appropriate for him to stay any longer considering the tension between him and Chan had been a bit... awkward, so to say. Of course poor Felix didn't know anything about that, but it was obviously better that way. It should not be something he had to worry about, especially if it was something that would maybe resolve itself on its own in a few days.

After Jisung arrived at home, he saw that he had a missed call from Changbin on his phone, but he didn't bother to call him back. Changbin would call on his own again if it was something important, and if not, it didn't matter all that much because Jisung didn't feel like talking right now anyway.

Letting himself fall down onto his bed, he felt weirdly exhausted, even though he hadn't done much today.

With some strands of hair falling into his vision, he looked at the empty bag for his school trip in the corner of his room.

Maybe last-minute packing wasn't that great after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the chapter was a bit short this time, but no worries! from the next chapter on we're getting into a new arc of the story, aka the school trip arc, which will go on for quite some chapters because well... when isn't stuff happening on school trips, am i right?  
> anyway, stay tuned until then!


End file.
